ISLAMABAD: A military court has sentenced two terrorists of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) to death over the murder of Qawwali maestro Amjad Sabri.

Ishaq alias Bobby and Asim alias Capri, who had murdered Sabri in June 2016, were among the 10 terrorists whose death sentences awarded by military courts were ratified by Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa on Monday.

“Today Chief of Army Staff confirmed death sentences awarded to 10 hardcore terrorists, who were involved in heinous offences related to terrorism, including killing of innocent civilians and attacking Pearl Continental Hotel Peshawar as well as Law Enforcement Agencies / Armed Forces of Pakistan,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement noting the convicts were tried by military courts.

Both Ishaq and Asim were arrested by Sindh’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in November 2016, months after Amjad Sabri’s murder. The arrest of the duo was announced by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on that occasion.

The convicts were associated with LJ and had initially worked for defunct Sipah-i-Sahaba. Although Ishaq’s radicalisation started during his seminary days, he was recruited into LJ ranks in 2012 by Farooq Bhatti, alias Musanna, who also remained the deputy head of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.

Ishaq was arrested for his alleged involvement in 28 murder cases, including sectarian attacks. He had told interrogators that he had killed Amjad Sabri along with Asim for his inclination towards minority Shia community. During investigation, he admitted to killing seven policemen guarding a polio team, four Rangers men in Ittehad Town and a lawyer and PML-N leader Waqar Shah in 2014. In one of his last attacks before being arrested, he had attacked a Majlis congregation in Nazimabad, Karachi, killing five.

The ISPR said besides killing Amjad Sabri, the two had carried out attacks against personnel of law enforcement agencies and armed forces of Pakistan, leaving 17 dead. “The convicts confessed their offences before the Judicial Magistrate and the trial court,” it said.

Others sentenced to death included Arish Khan, son of Aslam; Rafique, son of Hameed Khan; Habibur Rehman, son of Khoba Gul; Fayyaz, son of Gul Faraz; Ismail Shah, son of Nek Badshah; Fazal, son of Abdul Mateen; Hazrat Ali, son of Mohammad Ali; and Habib Ullah, son of Anwar Baig. They were convicted for their involvement in killing of 62 people, including five civilians, 11 police officials and 46 Frontier Constabu­lary and armed forces personnel, the ISPR said.

Moreover, five unnamed convicts were awarded jail sentences.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2018